The moment that the UFC 162 main event was announced, middleweight contender Chris Weidman became the sexy pick to finally dethrone Anderson Silva from his reign as UFC champion.

Silva has virtually been untouchable since winning the title back in 2006, but the seemingly invincible armor he wore took more than a few dings when he faced Chael Sonnen in two fights between 2010 and 2012. Despite Silva ultimately coming out on top in both fights, Sonnen’s wrestling countered the Brazilian’s laser-like accuracy on the feet for the better part of 25 minutes in total.

So with Weidman carrying a similar background, being a former two-time NCAA All-American wrestler with an added element of a rapidly developing submission game honed under Brazilian jiu-jitsu legends like Renzo Gracie and John Danaher, it’s safe to say the New York native is a popular choice to finish what Sonnen started in his fights with Silva.

“All the pros, like when you talk to all the fighters, every fighter out there that I’ve talked to and that we’ve interviewed think Weidman’s going to beat him,” UFC president Dana White said recently when speaking to the media about the upcoming UFC 162 main event. “Georges St-Pierre thinks he’s going to win so much that he didn’t even want to plan to fight Anderson.”

White didn’t get a chance to talk to every fighter on the roster because at least one middleweight contender who spent several weeks preparing for Weidman last year doesn’t believe he’s going to walk out of UFC 162 with the title in tow.

“I think Dana’s quote was all the fighters he’s talked to were picking Weidman,” UFC middleweight Tim Boetsch recently told Bleacher Report – an official MMAWeekly.com content partner – about the upcoming fight. “He didn’t call me to get my opinion because I’m with Anderson Silva on this one.”

Boetsch was set to face Weidman late last year before the top middleweight contender suffered a shoulder injury that put him into surgery instead of the Octagon. While the fight did change to a new opponent, Boetsch studied plenty of tape to get familiar with the weapons that Weidman would bring to the table for their fight.

In his opinion, Boetsch believes that it would have done Weidman some good to get more in-cage experience before taking on the greatest fighter of all time with only nine fights to his name

“I’m happy for Chris that he got what he asked for, but I think he’s going to find out he should have taken a little more time to get there, a little more experience,” Boetsch stated. “It would be a surprise for me if he won.”

No one would deny that Weidman has the kind of skills necessary to give Silva problems in a similar way that Sonnen did during their two fights. If Weidman can get the fight to the ground and keep it there, Silva could struggle to get up from under his top control and wrestling game.

A five-round fight is still an awful long time to give Silva opportunities to land that one perfect knockout blow, and Boetsch thinks it will happen at some point before the final horn sounds.

“I think Weidman has the tools to do it, but with the experience and Anderson just being the greatest fighter in the world, I think he’s going to hang onto that title for a little bit longer until I get there to take it away from him,” Boetsch said.

Boetsch will be front and center for the main event because he will also be a part of the UFC 162 card when he faces Mark Munoz that same night. With hopes of jumping back into title contention, Boetsch will look to pick up a win of his own and then sit down and watch the main event between Silva and Weidman unfold.

I really wanted Weidman to fight Boetsch and Belfort. Those both would be interesting match ups and cement him as the clear #1 contender based on beating two guys who have been around for a while taking on top competition. I like the way Boestch put everything though. He gave Wediman his credit stating he has the tools to become champion but he’s going with Silva based on experience. Not just experience but being possibly the greatest fighter as well. I know Tim must be motivated for his fight with Munoz knowing that someone with 9 fights and a year lay off is getting a title shot. If he impressively beats Munoz I would think he deserves to fight Vitor Belfort for next in line.

Lucas Freire

Exactly! I must give him props for being such an eloquent fighter!
He just spoke out every single thought I had about this whole situation. The Weidman x Boestch match would be indeed the crucial match to give Weidman the title shot. It just doesn’t make any sense that he pulls out from this fight due to injury and ends up with a title shot.

http://www.CombatScienceMMA.com/ CombatScienceMMA

We all talk about ring rust but I couldn’t imagine, ring rust due to injury then taking on Silva of all people.

Mark McDowall

I think Weidman will be a tough opponent for Silva. But don’t we hear this every time Silva fights? ” So and so is the most dangerous opponent he has faced so far”. “so and so has is strongest where Silva is weakest” Until someone puts him on his butt or chokes him out I won’t believe it.

Weidman has a couple of big things going against him. First and foremost he is coming off of a pretty serious shoulder injury/surgery. Many pro athletes who have had this same injury never came back the same. Because of this he hasn’t fought in a year come fight time. His last opponent being a VERY over-hyped Mark Munoz. This is the other thing going against him…his experience. Not only the quality of his opponents, but he has never been in such a big fight…that can make a big difference in a fighters mind. All the extra hype and media attention leading up to fight time can really throw them off.

I am now hoping that Anderson creams Weidman and forces Georges to go
through with the fight. If nothing else, Georges will have abundant
fodder for another best seller after his loss.

shakejunt

not sure “assclown” is a verb

Baller31

sounds more like the worst job ever

http://www.CombatScienceMMA.com/ CombatScienceMMA

I’ll be on the edge of my seat every second of this fight.

solo

Who knows if they even consider one of those possible match-ups. I think they didnt wanna put Weidman vs Boetsch cause Tim was coming off a loss.
IMO in every division you have a fighter that if you can menage to get a win over him you are ready to fight the Champion in that class. For me Vitor is that fighter in MW division. Look at his record when he got back to the organization, he has multiple wins against great fighters, and all of those wins comes by impressive stoppages. Only two losses by two greats.
So yea, i would also prefer Weidman vs Belfort before anything else.
I also think that this is the second interview from a fighter who thinks Silva’s gonna win, first one was Munoz.
I really hope Anderson wins impressively, for himself, his team, family and us fans.
Few more days and nerves will get to me.

http://www.CombatScienceMMA.com/ CombatScienceMMA

Very well put my friend. I agree, Vitor runs that division. I know we have a lot of different opinions on this but I believe Bisping is not far behind from him if you consider his record and the years he’s put in. I’m hoping Jacare and Tim Kennedy really shake up this division b/c I’m very big fans of both of them. Nobody in this division has gone without a loss to another top tough guy. These guys can pretty much all beat one another on any given day. But Vitor and Silva have been running things for a while now.

Hugh Shakeshaft

Agreed. Especially since Vitor nearly submitted Bones and KO’d Bisping and Rockhold. I just wish he’d lay off the juice.

Timothy Malone

“All the pros, like when you talk to all the fighters, every fighter out there that I’ve talked to and that we’ve interviewed think Weidman’s going to beat him,” UFC president Dana White said recently when speaking to the media about the upcoming UFC 162 main event”

Name one Brazilian fighter who said this

DamianCross

Renzo Gracie!

Timothy Malone

LOL I’ll admit you got me there

Marcus Miles

Renzo is bias. Renzo is Chris’s mentor, of course he is gonna pick him. Good fight, aside from hands and wrestling, no one has really mentioned how sick Wiedmans BJJ is.

shakejunt

exactly. people wanna talk about his lack of experience and while that may be a factor, this a guy who was invited to adcc after only formally training for 1 year. lost to andre galvao who got 2nd.

dorothywillis

Of course Georges St-Pierre would be praying to God that Chris Weidman beats Anderson Silva. GSP and his think tank suddenly discovered what a collossal mistake it would be for hum to have a super fight with the Spider, so they have a vested interest in this fight. Although I have been vocal about a GSP vs Spider fight would be very ill advised for the GSP camp, I am now hoping that Anderson creams Weidman and forces Georges to go through with the fight. If nothing else, Georges will have abundant fodder for another best seller after his loss.

Truth

quite frankly, i don’t think GSP ever seriously considered moving up to fight Anderson. It was something he may’ve been toying with. And the only way he’d take that fight is maybe as a retirement farewell fight.

GSP has made it abundantly clear that the only possible way that he’d fight at 185 is to take about 9 mos – 1 yr to put on the weight & that he would be done at 170 and wouldn’t fight again at 170. If he were to win at MW, i seriously doubt he’d like to keep fighting there. He can put on more muscle / weight, but he can’t get taller or make his reach longer.

GSP knows he’s not going to be able to stand w/ Andy and his only prayer is to take down Silva and control him there. It’s unlikely he’d be able to finish him there, when he can’t finish Dan Hardy, so unless GSP can do this for at least 3 rds. while not getting KTFO’d the other 2… he’s not going to win.

kbroesq

Yeah, his only prayer is to take him down and GSP will not be able to take Silva down AND keep him there. Silva is so much bigger than GSP.

I heard the same interviews you have. GSP says if he goes up, he’s not coming back down, which means he wants to put weight on. However, even if he does that, it will be weight that HE put on. It won’t be natural size, like Silva has.

Silva isn’t muscular at all, but he’s a big dude. If you stand next to him, you’re like whoa, this guy is big. GSP, not so much.

Jack Burton

Weidman is probably as good as he’s going to get, so I disagree about him needing more time. When you peak as a fighter is when you need to have a championship match and this is it for him.

As far as him winning, Weidman strikes me as a meathead when he’s interviewed. When he told Helwani that he continued to spar despite evacuating his bowels all over himself, I’m thinking this guy has some mental problems. His chances are slim.

Lucas Freire

I think you’re underrating Weidman by saying he already reached his peak.

I think Anderson is going to win. But saying Weidman is on his peak with 9 fights is non-sense. Anderson is a good example, I consider him on his peak since his bout with Griffin. And it was his 31th fight.
Weidman may be the future champion of the division,but not now.

Jack Burton

Fighters typically peak in their late 20s, that’s Weidman.

Men start losing testosterone after age 30.

Anderson has already peaked, but his skill as a fighter is so great he can still beat everyone even after he’s peaked. His abilities will eventually decline to the point where he can’t keep up, but he will likely retire before then.

Lucas Freire

Maybe physically but not technically speaking.
Some guys start sooner, some start later, there’s no pattern to follow.

Shogun has 31 and is already on the end of his road, while Anderson has 38 and has a considerable amount of fuel to burn.

Weidman started fighting MMA 4 years ago, and started facing “top” competition 2 years ago. He has a lot of space to evolve.

Or you think Jon Jones will be on his peak 5 years from now? Or you think Aldo will be on his peak 4 years from now? They are both young but both have quite a long run on the MMA.

Don’t put to much stock in that TKO. It took some illegal blows and eye pokes to get Boestch to the point of being TKO’d.

shakejunt

probably feels snubbed because he thinks he could’ve taken out weidman and be in his spot.

Supaman

lol… i believed and agreed w/ EVERYTHING Tim Boetsch was saying… he was finally keeping it all real. Until he said… “..until I get there to take it away from him (Silva)”

No Boetsch… ur not beating Silva. But yes, you are correct about Weidman.

Werdoomb

Tim Boetch sounds like he is jealous of Weidman.

silvas daddy

Silva used to train with munoz, and munoz got to where he was regularly beating silva,so much so that munoz started calling out silva. Silva stated, “i dont understand him calling me out, we are friends, “(silva was in process of ducking munoz, knowing munoz could get him down and destroy him) . Then silva sees weidman manhandle munoz easily and says to self, “avoid weidman at all costs! ” silva avoided weidman like the plague, even though weidman was clearly number one contender. Silva knows what coming for him, some serious gnp. Weidman by 1st rd ko. I wouldn’t be surprised if silva comes down with an (fake) injury!

Werdoomb

Trust me, Munoz wouldn’t last a round against Silva. Not exactly on the same level.

Taking your training partner down during training is not exactly the same thing as fighting him in the UFC.

Wolf Ticket

Except you just made this up. I bet you are not able to find any reliable source that says Munoz was regularly beating Silva. The only time I remember Munoz calling out Silva was at UFC 138, where Mark also showed a lot of respect to Silva, but said he feels he deserved it.

Also, Munoz was totally out of shape when fighting Weidman, it was pretty obvious from his chubby body that night.

Jay Nokay

Wiedman still SPANKED Munoz, these guys are all top notch athletes, even “out of shape” they aren’t just sitting on the couch.

kbroesq

I’ve never heard that story – It’s funny, all the Silva haters went on constantly about how Silva was ducking Weidman, and now Silva is fighting Weidman, and you guys still won’t shut your mouths.

By the way, even if that story was true, training is just that – training.

Iamlazaruz

Is it me or does this sound very familiar?
I remember rashad evan’s rally cry…..he owned
jon jones in practice….until they got into the cage
then it was open mouth insert elbow. he got smashed for 25 minutes. Training and fighting are too diffrent. its a fight and anything can happen, but to think weidman will steam roll the p4p king based on a performance against munoz who was injured and out for months, and likely rusty is stretching it.

kbroesq

This so-called consensus is hugely dangerous for Weidman. Do people think that Silva doesn’t know what’s coming or that he’s not going to prepare? I really don’t like Chael Sonnen and I hate giving him compliments, but Sonnen did well against Silva because he fought him like an amateur. Sonnen wasn’t afraid of getting hit, and he just constantly charged in. He never waited and never allowed Silva to move.

When most fighters step into the cage with Silva, it’s a foregone conclusion that they will lose in their own head. I think I remember Cote literally celebrating that he made it to the third round with Silva! Let me tell you something, if you celebrate making it to the third round with Silva, you’ve already lost.

People aren’t talking about Weidman’s complete lack of experience and that he hasn’t faced anyone who can strike like Silva. I’m not saying he cannot win. He certainly can; but HOW are people so confident that Weidman is going to win after only two quality victories in the UFC.